It’s been nearly 20 years since the NBA last had an expansion franchise, but the next one could be coming very soon.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has already said multiple times over his NBA Finals media sessions that the league is looking towards expansion after it negotiates its media rights deal.
“It is a possibility,” Silver told Shaquille O’Neal on NBATV on Sunday ahead of Game 2 of the NBA Finals.
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Silver also suggested a few possible destinations during ESPN’s “NBA Countdown” before Game 3 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday, including some outside the United States.
“There are a bunch of great markets in the U.S.,” Silver said. “Frankly, other markets in Canada have shown interest as well. Mexico City has shown interest.”
The NBA currently has 30 teams -- the last expansion franchise being the Charlotte Bobcats, now Hornets, who entered the league in the 2004-05 season. There’s been rumors and reports that if the NBA were to expand, likely local options would be a return to Seattle or Las Vegas, which has been hoarding sports franchises.
The Toronto Raptors are the only NBA franchise outside of the United States, though they’re only a few years removed from winning the 2019 NBA Championship that sparked the city. The NBA also had a franchise in Vancouver starting the 1995-96 season, but it only lasted six seasons before moving to Memphis.
Mexico City would represent the league’s first team outside of the U.S. and Canada. The team has been experimenting with games in Mexico City for a while, having played over 30 games in the city already, the last being a match between the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs in December 2022.
However, Silver spoke about several steps the league needed and continues to have to take in order to prioritize league expansion.
The first is a Collective Bargaining Agreement between the NBA and its Players’ Association. The two sides reportedly made an agreement in principle on the CBA in April that has yet to be signed and made official, though Silver said the sides are just “finishing it up.”
The next would be fixing its media rights deal, which is important in giving the NBA a look at how much its main revenue source would be supplying them for the foreseeable future.
The NBA’s current deal with Disney and Warner Bros. expires after the 2024-25 season, and Silver said there’s likely going to be initial discussions on their next media deal starting this summer.
That means the NBA could start to focus on expansion as soon as the next two years -- though it remains to be seen how long that process will actually take once the league begins to set it sites on more teams.
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